San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Holds His Fire As Democrats Seethe Over Trump’s Funding Freeze
One senator accused President Donald Trump of trying to “collapse our democracy.” A state attorney general called the president’s actions “dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional.” After Trump tried to block billions in federal funding for everything from schools to health care, they joined a chorus of fiery criticism from Democrats across the country. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom, peppered with questions from reporters, said the funding freeze was unconstitutional, but declined to further criticize the president. (Bollag, 1/28)

Berkeleyside: Trump’s Order To Freeze Federal Grants Sparks Confusion In Berkeley
Government agencies in Berkeley and around the Bay Area spent much of Tuesday scrambling to understand the Trump administration’s order to freeze a wide array of federal spending programs, but most could not immediately ascertain how it would impact the bottom line. (Dinkelspiel, 1/28)

Voice of OC: OC Leaders Scramble To Figure Out What Federal Funding Is Cut Off By Trump Executive Orders
Orange County leaders are trying to figure out what new executive orders and memos from President Donald Trump calling for a freeze on federal funding mean amidst concerns they could lose funding for a variety of federal programs immediately. (1/29)

The Hill: States’ Medicaid Portal Access Restored After Lapse Under Trump, But It’s ‘Not Functioning Correctly’
After losing access to a Medicaid federal funding portal after an aid freeze by the Trump administration, states say they’re regaining access, but some are reporting that the site isn’t functioning “correctly.” One day after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo stating agencies must halt “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,” state Medicaid offices reported they had lost access to the payment portal through which federal funds are drawn. (Choi, 1/28)

The New York Times: State Department Permits Distribution Of H.I.V. Medications To Resume — For Now
The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a waiver for lifesaving medicines and medical services, offering a reprieve for a worldwide H.I.V. treatment program that was halted last week. The waiver, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seemed to allow for the distribution of H.I.V. medications, but whether the waiver extended to preventive drugs or other services offered by the program, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was not immediately clear. (Mandavilli, 1/28)

CNN: Trump Administration Offers Buyouts To Federal Workers
Federal workers who don’t want to return to the office are being offered buyouts, according to a memo posted to the US Office of Personnel Management’s website Tuesday night. (Treene and Blackburn, 1/28)

Times of San Diego: Fear-Based False Rumors Spread About 'ICE Raid' At Rady Children's Hospital
A rumor that spread across the United States last week about a purported “ICE raid” at Rady Children’s Hospital used photographs with context removed in order to spread a false narrative, the hospital said Monday. The rumor plays on fears sparked by the Trump administration’s deportation plans, as actual raids begin in cities across the the United States, including San Diego. (Binkowski, 1/28)

Los Angeles Times: California's Growing Need For Caregivers Could Collide With A Crackdown On Immigrants
President Trump's plans to overhaul immigration could reduce the ranks of workers who care for elderly and disabled people at home and in long-term care facilities as California and the country grapple with the needs of an aging population, health care experts and immigrant advocates say. (Alpert-Reyes, 1/27)

CalMatters: We Asked All 58 California Sheriffs About Immigration Enforcement Under Trump. Here’s What They Said
President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to ramp up immigration enforcement could put California’s 58 elected sheriffs in the hot seat because of their responsibility to manage local jails. CalMatters surveyed all of California’s sheriff’s about how they plan to navigate the complexities in local, state and federal immigration laws. Here’s what they told us. (Apodaca and Duara, 1/28)

AP: Trump Is Looking To Boot Transgender Troops From The Military. Here's Why That's Complicated 
The Pentagon has said in recent years that it is impossible to count the total number of transgender troops. The military services say there is no way to track them and that much information is limited due to medical privacy laws. Estimates have hovered between 9,000 and 12,000. But it will be very difficult for officials to identify them, even as service members worry about the hunt to root them out. (Baldor, 1/29)

Axios: Trump's Trans Military Ban Part Of Playbook To Defund Gender-Affirming Care
Anti-abortion forces similarly used federal funding as a wedge in the 1970s to enact the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds in Medicaid and other federal health programs for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or in cases where the pregnant person's life is in danger. The amendment was renewed multiple times by Congress, even when Democrats controlled the House. And similar policies were extended to other federal health programs, including coverage for federal employees and their families, military personnel and inmates in federal prisons, per Planned Parenthood. (Reed, 1/28)

The Boston Globe: RFK Jr.’s Hearings Will Spotlight His Familiarity Of Key Health Programs
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ventured a staggering number of opinions on public health, from casting doubt on vaccines and fluoride to claiming COVID was engineered to spare some races. There’s one area, however, where the notoriously voluble Kennedy has been relatively quiet. It happens to concern the biggest responsibilities of the federal agency he could soon run. (Brodey, 1/28)

Stat: Private Emails From RFK Jr. Revealed On Eve Of Confirmation Hearing 
On the eve of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings, his physician niece has shared a trove of private emails in the hopes of derailing his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The exchanges show RFK Jr. making false claims about Covid-19 vaccines at the height of the pandemic, citing online articles by fellow vaccine skeptics, linking childhood immunizations to autism, and raising doubts about the flu shot. (Berke and Owermohle, 1/28)

The Independent: 'He Cheats His Way Through Life': The Five Biggest Bombshells From Caroline Kennedy's Open Letter About RFK Jr
Robert F. Kennedy is addicted to “attention and power” according to scathing letter revealing some of his darkest moments, penned by his cousin Caroline Kennedy. Kennedy, 71, who is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is a hypocritical “predator” who is “addicted to attention and power”, his cousin warned senators ahead of the confirmation hearing in the senate - which will confirm his control over a $1.7 trillion budget as the top health official. (Croft, 1/29)

NBC News: Autism Community Fears RFK Jr. Would Set Back Decades Of Progress
For decades, the scientific community has worked to dispel a thoroughly debunked theory that vaccines cause autism and finally shift its focus to find true potential causes. But now, autism advocates say they are fearful that if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as health and human services secretary, it could undermine years of progress in unlinking autism and vaccines, while potentially diverting precious research dollars to a theory already discredited by hundreds of studies worldwide. They warn he would wield vast influence over who sits on committees and steer policy. (Korecki, 1/29)

The New York Times: Why Trump Picked A Science Advisor, Michael Kratsios, Who Isn’t A Scientist
President Trump last week formally nominated Michael Kratsios, a member of the first Trump administration with no degrees in science or engineering, to be his science adviser. Science policy experts say that Mr. Kratsios’ wide experience in private and public technology policy and management is what makes him an attractive candidate. His expertise includes a central role in early federal efforts to speed the rise of artificial intelligence and to compete with China in its development. He will join a cohort of White House advisers on the fraught topic. (Broad, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: Stretch Of L.A. County Beaches Closed Indefinitely Due To Fire Debris
The recent rainfall and increased debris from fire zones have prompted Los Angeles County public health officials to issue an advisory and close several miles of coastline from Malibu to Playa del Rey. “Fire debris runoff and pollutants in the water and on the sand may contain toxic or carcinogenic chemicals, which can be harmful to health,” public officials said in a statement. “This includes any runoff that may flow onto or pond on the beach sand.” (Vives, 1/28)

Capital & Main: Maui’s Post-Wildfire Housing Crisis Offers A Warning For Los Angeles
After wildfires devastated the island, homelessness spiked. Advocates fear L.A. could face a similar fate without strong renter protections — and enforcement. (Ross, 1/28)

Capitol Weekly: Will CIRM Research Fill Knowledge Gap On Wildfire Particulate Connection To Brain Damage?
A wave of life-threatening air pollution that is now being reported widely as refugees from the devastating fires in Los Angeles return to what is left of their homes. Research being funded by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine could help uncover how fine particulate matter from wildfires, vehicle emissions, and industrial sources affects stem cells and brain development. (Jensen, 1/29)

Southern California News Group: California Refutes Donald Trump’s Claim Of Sending Military To Turn On The State’s Water
President Donald Trump’s dispute with California over water policy continued this week, with Trump claiming he’d sent military personnel into the state to “turn on the water.” (Tat, 1/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: Court Orders Union To Pay $6.28M For 'Unlawful Strike' At HCA California Hospital
A federal court has concurred with an arbitrator's decision ordering Service Employees International Union 121RN to pay Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, $6.26 million in damages related to a 10-day strike held in June 2020, according to court documents accessed by Becker's. Following hearings in late 2022, the arbitrator found that SEIU 121RN violated the collective bargaining agreement, which outlines terms under which unions are allowed to strike. (Gooch, 1/28)

Modern Healthcare: Ochsner Health, LA General Seek Hospital-At-Home Alternatives
Providers are bypassing Medicare requirements to set up scaled-down hospital-at-home programs they say save money by reducing hospitalizations. ... Providers say the programs free up hospital beds for sicker patients and save money by keeping some patients in risk-based care plans out of the hospital. However, most of the in-home hospital programs don’t have the rigorous guardrails mandated in the Medicare waiver program. (Eastabrook, 1/28)

Becker's Hospital Review: How A Cancer Campus Fits Into Stanford's Future
Stanford (Calif.) Medicine leaders are prioritizing interdisciplinary collaboration and integrating research with clinical practice as they develop plans to build a cancer campus. David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care, Paul King, president and CEO of Stanford Medicine Children's Health, and Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at Stanford University, shared their vision for the future of cancer care Stanford Medicine Magazine's first issue of 2025. (Gregerson, 1/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: Healthcare Supply Chain Costs Expected To Rise 2.3%: Report
Healthcare supply chain costs are expected to rise 2.3% from July 2025 to June 2026, according to a Jan. 28 Vizient's "Winter 2025 Spend Management Outlook." The predicted increase would be driven by sustained high prices for raw materials, freight and shipping costs and the effects of tariffs on medical-surgical products manufactured in China, according to a news release from the healthcare performance improvement company. (Murphy, 1/28)

CNBC: Novo Nordisk's Ozempic Wins FDA Approval For Chronic Kidney Disease
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic to treat chronic kidney disease in patients who also have Type 2 diabetes, expanding the use of the wildly popular injection in the U.S. (Constantino, 1/28)

Newsweek: Medicare Change Backed By 20,000 People In New Letters
A coalition of around 20,000 advocates and twelve major health care groups has called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to expand Medicare and Medicaid to include FDA-approved anti-obesity medications. The letters are being led by the Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease (HECCD) and they say the change would potentially benefit up to 7.5 million Americans enrolled in these federal programs who are living with obesity, per the press release. (Dickey, 1/28)

The New York Times: New CVS App Lets Customers Unlock Cabinets To Pick Up Products
Customers at some CVS stores will no longer have to push a button and wait for a clerk to unlock one of those glass cabinets to get the products they want to buy. A new app will allow them to open the cabinets themselves, the company said on Tuesday. That feature of the new CVS Health app has been available in three stores in New York City as part of a pilot program that began in August, said Tara Burke, a CVS Health spokeswoman. She said there are plans to roll out the “smart locks” at approximately 10 stores on the West Coast early this year. (Hauser, 1/28)

Becker's Hospital Review: Drugmaker Recalls Blood Pressure Treatment Common In Anesthesia
Provepharm issued a recall of its Phenylephrine hydrochloride injection from lot number 24020027 due to the discovery of black particulate matter in a vial. The affected lot, with an expiration date of December 2025, was distributed nationwide to hospitals and wholesalers. The company initiated the recall of the blood pressure treatment after a pharmacy reported observing foreign particles in a vial. The presence of these particles in the injectable solution can lead to local irritation or swelling, according to a Jan. 24 news release from the FDA. (Murphy, 1/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Program To Bus More Homeless People Out Of Town Isn't Growing
Mayor Daniel Lurie and his top challengers in the mayoral race last year pledged to expand a decades-old initiative giving homeless people a city-funded bus ticket out of town. Yet the tactic — long seen as an easy and cost-efficient way to reduce the city’s homeless population by reuniting them with loved ones elsewhere — has been operating far below its peak for years, and it’s not clear how the new administration will turn it around. (Angst, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County's First Safe Parking For Homeless People Living In RVs Opens In Crenshaw
Jose Garcia had been living in his RV for six years and growing tired of the life. ... Garcia now resides on a parking lot in the Crenshaw District — L.A. County’s first safe parking location for RVs. An RV at a Los Angeles County-owned parking lot in the Crenshaw District.The one-year, $900,000 pilot project opened in November on county property vacated by the Probation Department when it moved to Downey in 2019. (Smith, 1/29)

Times of San Diego: Cost Of Living Driving More People To Turn To Charities, USD Nonprofit Institute Finds
People in San Diego County are seeking help from nonprofit organizations more often due to struggles associated with the cost of living, a University of San Diego report found. However, nonprofit employees can’t afford to stay on the job, putting further strain on the organizations, according to the report, the 2024 State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy. (Caspers, 1/28)